August 7, 1996
12:00 AM (EDT)

News Release Number: STScI-1996-27

Giant Star Birth Region in Neighboring Galaxy

August 7, 1996: The colorful picture on the right is a Hubble telescope snapshot of a vast nebula of dust and gas called NGC 604, which lies in the neighboring spiral galaxy M33.

This region, located in the galaxy's spiral arm, is fertile ground for star birth. Though such nebulae are common in galaxies, this one is particularly large, nearly 1,500 light-years across. The image on the left, taken by a ground-based telescope, illustrates the vastness of this nebula. The galaxy resides 2.7 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum.